Cindy LamotheMon, Jun 16, 2025, 4:00 PM 3 min readWe’ve all made money mistakes: Missed payments, impulse buys or that one time we thought crypto was definitely our ticket to riches. But every now and then, you witness a financial meltdown so wild, it sticks with you.GOBankingRates spoke with Stoy Hall, certified financial planner (CFP) and CEO of Black Mammoth, to discuss the worst financial meltdown he’s seen and what we can all learn from it as a result.“The worst financial meltdowns I’ve witnessed in my career had almost nothing to do with the actual money,” said Hall.Learn More: I’m a Financial Advisor — My Wealthiest Clients All Do These 3 ThingsFor You: These Cars May Seem Expensive, but They Rarely Need RepairsInstead, he said they were emotional breakdowns — internal explosions triggered by years of financial trauma, unrealistic expectations and a society that sells you ‘get-rich-quick’ like it’s on clearance. Here’s what happened.According to Market Watch, 57% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck in 2025.“One client, like many others I’ve worked with, came to me out of pure desperation,” Hall explained. They had been living paycheck to paycheck, drowning in credit card debt and decided they were finally “ready” to change — but only if it happened fast.Hall said they hired him, enrolled in courses and bought all the budgeting tools. Then came the test: An unexpected car repair.“That single event shattered everything. They stopped following the plan,” the CFP said.The client charged the repair to a high-interest card. Then they ghosted him and blamed the plan, not the behavior.That meltdown? It wasn’t about the car — it was about emotional instability around money.Find Out: 3 Signs You’ve ‘Made It’ Financially, According to Financial Influencer Genesis HinckleyAccording to Hall, this is what people don’t realize: Wealth isn’t built in a straight line — it’s built in the dark, behind the scenes, over time.“If it took you 10, 20, 30 years to build bad habits, trauma, and debt… what makes you think you can reverse it in six weeks? That’s delusional,” he said.The first step in financial healing, Hall explained, isn’t opening an app — it’s digging into your first money memory. That moment in childhood — maybe it was scarcity, maybe it was watching your parents fight over bills, maybe it was being told “we can’t afford that” — that shaped your relationship with money today.“Until you address that, you’ll always self-sabotage,” Hall said. “You’ll think budgeting is punishment, investing is gambling and credit is survival.”Terms and Privacy PolicyPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore InfoS&P Futures5,987.50 +2.50 (+0.04%)Dow Futures42,229.00 +1.00 (+0.00%)Nasdaq Futures21,745.00 +14.50 (+0.07%)Russell 2000 Futures2,115.80 -3.10 (-0.15%)VIX21.60 +2.49 (+13.03%)Gold3,400.60 -6.30 (-0.18%)PortfolioSign in to access your portfolioSign inTop gainersCERO CERo Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. 19.83 +12.96 (+188.73%)PCT PureCycle Technologies, Inc. 14.12 +2.25 (+18.96%)WLY John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 40.72 +3.69 (+9.96%)CRK Comstock Resources, Inc. 28.86 +2.40 (+9.07%)JBL Jabil Inc. 196.89 +16.07 (+8.89%)Top losersENPH Enphase Energy, Inc. 34.92 -11.01 (-23.97%)FSLR First Solar, Inc. 143.90 -31.35 (-17.89%)BUR Burford Capital Limited 10.91 -1.73 (-13.69%)SGRY Surgery Partners, Inc. 20.33 -2.84 (-12.26%)PTON Peloton Interactive, Inc. 6.12 -0.81 (-11.76%)Most activeLCID Lucid Group, Inc. 2.1500 0.0000 (0.00%)NVDA NVIDIA Corporation 144.12 -0.57 (-0.39%)VALE Vale S.A. 9.35 -0.47 (-4.79%)F Ford Motor Company 10.42 -0.20 (-1.88%)TSLA Tesla, Inc. 316.35 -12.78 (-3.88%)Earnings eventsTrending tickersCERO CERo Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. 19.83 +12.96 (+188.73%)CRWV CoreWeave, Inc. 171.93 +13.43 (+8.47%)CRCL Circle Internet Group 149.15 -1.91 (-1.26%)CRWD CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. 492.03 +12.64 (+2.64%)TSLA Tesla, Inc. 316.35 -12.78 (-3.88%)Top economic eventsPowered by Money.com - Yahoo may earn commission from the links above.